The bar and language robots at Trefdag Digitaal Vlaanderen 2025

IDLab-AIRO was present at the Trefdag Digitaal Vlaanderen 2025 event with two robot demos: a language robot and a bar robot. These demos demonstrated the state-of-the-art AI and robotics algorithms developed by our PhD students for their research, and integrated into robust demos for science dissemination.

Visitors could co-create a story with our language robot. Together with the Furhat robot, they came up with a fascinating story in an interactive way. Supporting the story were AI-generated illustrations based on the co-created story. This demo leverages Eva Verhelst’s research for robot-assisted second language learning, that was recently presented at the HRI, IEEE ROMAN, and ICSR conferences.

After writing stories with the robot, visitors could get some refreshments at the adjacent booth, also manned by us. There, our bar robot - previously featured by Flanders News (VRT NWS) and at ITF World 2025 - was eager to serve drinks to passers-by. Using our state-of-the-art glass localisation algorithm, and real-time motion planning, the robot worked endlessly. This demonstrates Louis Adriaens’s research into the detection and manipulation of challenging objects, soon to appear in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.